I Joined Another Earnings Site

Here I go joining another site. I like it, but I'm not sure how it works exactly. Anyone who knows how to work on SwagBucks let me know.

Easy Ad Bucks

I stumbled onto another Pay To Click website that I wanted to share with all of you. Try it out. I did! All you do is click on the links provided on the site and it opens another window. Stay on the site for 10 seconds and get paid. It's not that much but I sure think it's easy to do for seconds of your time. Happy clicking.

Last Post For Tonight

I mentioned my eventful day and all the things that I want (merchandise, merchandise). I am just reflecting that nothing would be possible without the gracious love of the Lord. I thank my buddy Jerrod for bringing me and the kiddos back to church. I pray for everyone right now still without power. If you look at the picture above I still don't understand how I have electricity, I really don't. But, I prayed, the kids prayed and God answered our prayers. I am pretty lucky these days. I don't have all the flashy merchandise but I'm content with what I have. I also like giving back to others, so today I went to Bliss House and dropped off a boat load of clothes, movies and nick-nacks for them. I thought about having a yard sale when the weather got better but it was senseless. There are so many people who are not as fortunate. My daughter got on board and cleared her closet and little Gaby picked out toys he didn't like (I think he will regret it tomorrow, he's too young to realize what he's doing). I hope this will help someone.

Dr. Collier

Many people are trying hard to follow their New Year's resolutions, some are having more trouble than others. As a member of the medical field I understand that some people have different genetic make-ups that make it hard to lose weight. Some have reached the end of the rope and find that there is no hope in sight. I stumbled on this doctor who can assist people with their weight loss programs. What I know about Lap-Band is that it is much safer than Gastric Bypass Surgery. There is hardly any large incision marks and long recovery period for this procedure. My brother is morbidly obese and he is considering Lap-Band. He has asthma and finds it very difficult to do strenuous exercise. Once he loses the weight he can start participating in aerobic exercise since he won't be so constricted by his weight.
Dr. Richard Collier is a Lap-Band surgical specialist, who provides the premier, comprehensive Lap-Band®, weight loss surgery program as the alternative to more invasive procedures such as Gastric Bypass Surgery in The Woodlands, Conroe, Houston, Kingwood, and Spring, Texas areas. His acclaimed weight loss program combines his well respected 31 year level of surgical experience with a highly-praised aftercare team program approach for patients following their surgery. For more information follow this link.conroe lap band

Much Accomplished

Today was a hectic day. I made a list of the things I set out to do. The first was to call my Student Loan holders because they keep calling me all the time. I knew something was terribly wrong. So I call and they tell me I haven't made a payment in 5 months. Well as bad as it seems they couldn't access my account because the wrong birthday was listed. Since it was wrong they couldn't give me any information over the phone. So for the past 5 months they have been reporting that I have been late for 5 months on my credit report. Tomorrow is a new day for me to get on the phone again with them so get this fixed. I then proceeded out in the snow and ice to get my coworker a birthday gift. Lucky for me I love this coworker as a sister and I didn't mind handing $5.00 for it. So I had $65.00 total to spend. I think I came out very well. My friend is a frugal person herself so she didn't ask for a whole lot. Most of the things I got her were from consignment shops, thrift stores, and the Goodwill. She will be so proud of me. This is no joke, she likes that type of stuff. I am currently reading Confessions of a Shopoholic. I feel like that most of the time. Although my plan is to save money the idea of spending said money is very alluring to me. Spending other people's money for this birthday felt invigorating.
Next on my list was to call the school that I am eventually going to attend. I have to make monthly payments for my classes so I do not pull another loan. This is very exciting. I can't wait to go back to school. I cooked and cleaned as always. Then I did my PTC sites, which was boring but still productive on my part. So now I am winding down on the money I spent today out of my own wallet. $200.00 went to the electricity bill. I hated handing that money over to them but we don't have a fireplace, so we have incurred 3 space heaters. My husband was too lazy to put up plastic sheeting to help insulate the house. (Let me side tack a little. The reason I am disgusted is because I work as well as take care of the children, plus, I cook, do the grocery shopping, go to school and participate in community theater. My husband does work 13 hours a day, but he has to do some type of work in the house instead of sleeping all day. I even take out the trash, do all the laundry, bathe my kiddos, cook, and prepare for the next day. So please excuse me if I call my husband lazy.) I'm thinking of going to the Amish Country and buy one of those heaters that heats the whole house, that would be nice. I finally ended up in Kroger's and bought a marinade for dinner, an onion, and a bell pepper. That total was $5.96. So my total spent today was $205.96. I don't think that is too bad except I know where to cut down. I need the heat for these kids, other than that, appliances are unplugged and unnecessary things are off. Phew! More to do tomorrow.

A Day Off Work

There's a lot for me to do on my day off but I have been lazy. I did make a list and created a monthly budget for February. But, I am still bored. So I started check out WAHM sites. I am not a stay at home mom but I would like to be. There are some cool sites that have a lot of useful information. I also started online shopping again. Since I'm trying to be frugal with my money I just browsed. I made another list of things that I want to buy. These are "wants", not necessarily "needs". Below I have listed a few of them and the reasons I think I want them.
1. A new laptop. This will give me the easy access I need to the internet when I am away from home. When I do community theater and have a lot of down-time I can flip my laptop open and do either school work, write an article, or surf the internet. I want one so bad because I find that the hubby likes to hoard the home computer to play his video games. Cost for said laptop $450.00.
2. A Wii game system. This is a total want just for the shear fact that it is fun to play and it gives me some family time with the kiddos. Plus I hear that they have a Wii fit board that shows you how to do yoga moves. Have you ever played a Wii. It's a great workout for your arm. The first time I ever played it, my arm was sore for two days. Cost for Wii system plus Wii Fit $350.00
3. lia sophia jewelry. Because of the icestorm I had to postpone my party. But by having a party I am earning free jewelry for all the friends that I invite and who purchase jewelry too. I am addicted to this stuff. Jewelry is like the icing of a new wardrobe and I want lots of frosting. Cost for jewelry FREE if enough people buy, but I plan on spending $60.00.
As you can see I really don't have a huge list. But if want these items I have to work hard to save a little bit more each payday. I think it's doable.

So Long

It has been so long since I have been on my blog because of all the ups and downs that life has thrown at me. I read that the last time I wrote on here was when we had a large windstorm. Now we are going through a major snow/icestorm. It's funny to see life come full circle again and again. I have been involved in many activities and haven't been very vigil about my budget but I have started again the 1st of the year since my electric bill was a whopping $300.00. It was a big slap in the face and I was so disgraced by the whole thing I had to start keeping myself accountable again. Luckily my husband has finally jumped on board to help me out. My job is stable in this crazy economy but not as fulfilling as it once was. My children are getting older and with that they have more needs (expenses). So now I am back on track and still saving for a house which has not left my mind yet. I started buying the Sunday paper again and sifting through deals. I'm going back to school and taking advantage of the time to myself. So much has happened and I'm glad they did.

Don't Take For Granted

I have been talking about this windstorm like it affected me so much. I was one of the lucky ones who didn't lose power but so many people around me did. People had to throw away good food because there was no way they could store them. It was a shame to see all that go to waste. At our morning meeting we talked about thankfulness. I am thankful that I was not affected but I pray for those who were. I do not have a budget to replace food. Most of the community lived in the dark. We depend on electricity so much we take for granted some of the good things in life. My co-worker commented on how the storm brought her family close. They played board games in candle light, they walked through the parks during the light hours. They talked to their neighbors. It was strange to talk to my neighbors who I thought didn't like me to find out they thought that I was a hermit *grin*. We talked about how much money they would be saving for not having a weeks worth of electricity. It was one of the most funniest conversations I ever had. We as a community got together and had cookouts for those who could not cook food. We stopped those who were going to McDonald's three times a day for a decent meal. Now with the power back on everyone went back to their NORMAL routines. But we do not forget how good we have it made.

Got Something New and Flashy, and it Rings Too

Cell phones have been a craze. They blink and flash, you type on them, you can take pictures with them. Some of the phones now let you watch movies on them. Sometimes I wonder if they are ever used for speaking to another individual on the other end of the line. I submitted myself to get a cell phone. I was very reluctant to do it but I got a plan that made it affordable. The only reason I got this phone was so that I can keep in contact with work when I traveled outside the office. Since the windstorm here, many of the surrounding cities were out of power. I was stuck in traffic and sat in a parking lot (the freeway) as I watched two accidents happen beside me and across from me. I had no way of contacting anyone and it scared me a bit. So I bit the bullet and got myself a flashy slide phone that takes pictures. I paid nothing for the phone (yeah) and I am keeping my bill under $40.00 a month. Which is pretty good. I still condone cell phones when people are driving. I wish they would get a blue tooth or other hands free device so they could could concentrate on driving. That is my opinion on cell phones. FYI the accidents on the freeway were caused by people who were on their cell phones and not paying attention to the craziness around them.

Still On Board

Do you ever have the feeling that you want to give up on a good idea? I did have that feeling but since left it in the back of my head. I was thinking of stopping this whole nonsense of living paycheck to paycheck and that I was doomed to never get out of the hole. Well that's not good thinking and I now have the giddy mindset of getting out of debt again. Today I received a letter from one of the credit bureaus that I had written to. I had written letters for them to delete some of the erroneous things from my past and guess what? They did and I'm happy, and even more motivated to keep on going. Ever since my purse was stolen I thought that the world ended. My tip to all who think of giving up, don't. It's too exhausting and not worth it.

Say A Prayer

We experienced a devastating event here. They are calling it Windstorm 2008. It was horrible, we watched trees snap while winds of 50-60 mph blew. It was crazy. I almost flew away literally. Signs on the McDonalds shattered, bricks were flying, it was mother nature on PMS. Hurricane Ike moved over us barely. Right now businesses are losing money with all the power outages here. People are without power about 150,000 are still without. I was fortunate. My big old tree in the front yard only shook a couple branches. Other people had their trees uprooted and into their homes. I want to say a prayer for all of the people whose homes are demolished. I pray for the business owner who cannot open their shop, and I pray for the people who cannot get into a hotel because the hotels power is out. We only got the blunt side of Hurricane Ike while people in Texas have lost a loved one or more. So far I have only heard of one death, a ten year old who was hit in the head by a large branch off a tree. I am so thankful that my family is safe and that we have electricity. Right now my place of work has no electricity. They are saying that it may be till Saturday. It is horrible. We depend on electricity so much. I walked into a Kroger who was being powered by generators. People rushing in to get a bag of ice to salvage their frozen goods, only to be turned away by store after store from the shortage of ice. Can you imagine. A prayer goes out to all the families who are suffering.

Where is the Money?

Since my husband started working two jobs, it has been an ordeal. He didn't get paid yet for his two weeks from his other job and now we are starting to fight over money. I don't want to but he needs to get on board here. We have acquired a new expense which is daycare. I'm not happy about that and I don't think that my son is either but my husband sleeps during the day and having a 2 year old run around the house aimlessly is not good. So we have added $100 weekly to our expenses. My hubby has promised one of his checks to pay down some of the bills and debt that we are in. So far I have not seen a penny. Although he did give me money for the groceries. With all the price gouges, I have to be extremely careful with what I buy. I won't gripe about gas although it is a pain in the neck not to think about it. I am wondering where the money is going. I have been away for 2 weeks buried in the little theater. It was a break for me. I hardly spent any money nor did I do any grocery shopping. We lived off of what was in the cupboards which was a great switch. Since my purse was stolen I have to start over in clipping my coupons AGAIN!!! I just wonder why this is happening. I am going to do a lot of praying. I know that this bad situation will somehow get better, but I have to let it go and put it in someone else's hands.

Not A Dull Moment, but A Serious Consequence

I'm back and ready to focus on what I set my eyes on. I was bummed a couple of days ago because my purse was stolen. It has been a nightmare. I have to get a new driver's license and my rent money was stolen. I was able to get my rent in on time with the help of a friend who loaned me the money. I have no family and having a good friend help you out in a pinch (more like a slap in your face) is a blessing. I was taught a very good lesson. Do not carry so much stuff you don't want anyone to take. I even lost my coupon stash. You would think I would be disheartened about losing my rent money but the time I spent clipping those coupons was more devastating in the long run. Now I have to start over and find my identity as well. Never a dull moment here.

Missing In Action

I wanted to let you all know that I have been away for a couple of weeks due to the play that I am in. I just wanted to say that it is a fabulous experience. I have met many new people and have made more friendships through this. I have practically lived in the theater for the past 2 weeks. My time was crunched and there was no worrying about money. Although it was in the back of my head. I am glad to be back and I will be on here more after this week is through. We have 3 more shows to run and then I have to get back to serious business. I miss blogging.